Mississippi University for Women’s presidential search continues this week, with the first round of interviews being held Wednesday morning at the College Board in Jackson.
An undisclosed number of presidential candidates will be interviewed in person by the College Board and the Interview Search Advisory Committee, a subgroup of the Campus Search Advisory Committee. Additional first-round interviews will take place in Jackson on Oct. 20.
Though the beginning of the meeting is open to the public, the interviews will take place behind closed doors in executive session, and neither the names of the candidates — nor the number of candidates being interviewed — will be revealed to the public or the media, said Caron Blanton, director of communications for the College Board.
From those interviews, the candidate pool will be narrowed and a second round of interviews will begin, during which time background checks will be conducted.
After the second round of interviews, one preferred candidate will be selected and invited to tour the MUW campus in late fall, giving stakeholders and members of the community an opportunity to participate in a question and answer session with him or her.
The format will be similar to the Campus Listening Sessions, during which various groups — including MUW administrators and department heads, faculty members, staff, alumni and students — were given the opportunity to discuss the qualities and qualifications they feel are most important in MUW’s next leader.
The College Board hopes to name a new president by the new year. The search is being conducted through Parker Executive Search of Atlanta.
The position has been filled by Interim President Allegra Brigham since May, following the retirement of then-President Claudia Limbert. Limbert had held the position since April 2002.
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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